After losing his Round 4 heat on Tuesday Taj knew it would be a long road to the final. His first heat of the day was against Adriano de Souza, a competitive mastermind and Trestles favorite. The heat may have been close at the start, but with some well crafted uses of priority and a keen backhand attack Taj pulled ahead in the last half of the heat.

It was an impressive heat victory, but it only led to another tough heat. San Clemente local and crowd favorite Patrick Gudauskas faced off with Taj in the Quarterfinals. With each wave Pat caught crowd support grew louder, but Taj kept his poise and found a beautiful right with under 10 minutes remaining that gave him a ticket to a Semifinal birth.

And once again, Taj came up against an event favorite and title contender, Jordy Smith. Within a few minutes it was obvious Taj had control and by the end of the heat he was headed to the Final.

In a beautiful display of storyline, Taj met his Red Bull 21 Days co-star Julian Wilson in the Final. Julian had been on fire all day and was easily considered the favorite in the heat. Yet Taj's veteran knowledge came to play as he surfed a well calculated and powerful heat, coasting to the victory.